Alabama football: Players give early assessment of Florida State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — We’re a little less than two weeks away from Alabama football vs. Florida State, but it’s never to early to get an early breakdown of the matchup.

With the preseason Associated Press poll being released on Monday, we know that this will be a top-3 matchup with the Crimson Tide earning the top spot and the Seminoles checking in at No. 3.

Alabama and Florida State open the season in a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sept. 2. It’ll be the 51st time Alabama will play a game as the No. 1 team under Saban.

Alabama football will begin preparing for Florida State this week, but senior linebacker Rashaan Evans and left guard Ross Pierschbacher offered their early assessments of the Seminoles.

Linebacker Rashaan Evans

“They are a versatile team. They got athletes all across the board. I’ve been hearing a lot of things about them trying to be a dominate team by competing against people like us, the SEC. I’ve seen the offense more often, since we are preparing to facing them in two weeks, but they have great wide receivers and great running backs. The quarterback, I mean he has a year under his belt, so he’s got a little experience. Just with that I feel like we are going to have a great battle coming up.”

“We play against great teams. We have played against teams like Clemson. They kind of remind me of them. They have great athletes and a great quarterback. I feel if we prepare the right way, we’ll be pretty good.”

“I really don’t think (Florida State’s offensive line is) a weakness. I feel like you should never underestimate your opponent. A lot of times they will probably say that to get you off your game. I treat any opponent the same, regardless of what their division is. We could be playing a high school team, and I would still prepare for them like I did for Clemson. To be honest with you, I’m excited for this game. I know they have athletes, because they are ranked pretty high in the polls.”

Left guard Ross Pierschbacher

“I have (watched Florida State film). More on my own time. Just watching defensive front, schemes they play with, their personnel. They are very talented. Big, strong, fast defense. Very athletic. Going to be tough challenge for us up front.”

“I would say yeah, (their defensive front is like ours). The size, speed, explosiveness and just how they play. I think their D-Line is a little more up field than ours is. They try to penetrate. So it’s a big challenge. We’ve been working hard this camp to try to match up with them.”